Historic Preservation and Planning
Planning and preservation work together to: protect historic landscapes, foster economic development and downtown revitalization, preserve and manage growth of rural villages, conserve farmland, and to conserve residential housing stock. The American Planning Association supports efforts by local governments to integrate historic preservation into the land planning process by including preservation goals into the community master plan and reconciling and coordinating preservation policies with local development plans. Local governments should work together with citizens and interested groups to make preservation part of the overall effort to promote the general wellbeing of the community.

Master Plan
The starting point for preservation planning is the master plan. This town plan should have a chapter on historic preservation through which townspeople can have the opportunity to view their historic resources in a comprehensive fashion and identify the influences which have shaped their town in order to make sound preservation minded decisions. This section can be developed from local research of town histories, old maps, census records, and annual reports. A list of communities with Master Plans with historic chapters can be viewed here. In addition, a large part of this section is a cultural resource survey also known as a historic resource inventory. LRPC has worked with a number of communities to create inventories which can be viewed here. This should survey and document the location and significance of multiple town properties deemed noteworthy.

Historic Districts
One tool often used by planners to implement preservation in a community is through a historic district. In New Hampshire historic districts can be established (see NHRSA 674:46) and range in size and character from large commercial downtowns, to riverfront brick industrial complexes, and small clusters of buildings in 19th century village centers. A historic district may be a separate district, listed to the state or National Register of Historic Places, but is usually a zoning overlay district. While zoning addresses land use, a historic district covers the alteration, construction, and demolition of structures. Historic districts provide a degree of regulation over the use of properties within the district. The scope and degree of these regulation is voted on by the community who must also vote to create the district in the first place. A citizen commission oversees the district and can provide assistance to homeowners and approve construction and alterations to any property within.

How We Can Help

the Lakes Region Planning Commission provides technical assistance to its member communities. One of the topics which we can help you with is local historic districts. We have model historic district ordinance, as well as copies of historic district ordinances which are used by other lakes region communities;

The LRPC can meet with you to discuss the process of setting up a local historic district. We also have information which can be used to explain to the residents of your community what a local historic district is, and how it works”

In addition, once your historic district commission has drafted an ordinance we can review it for you. We will check to see if it contains all of the information needed to make it an effective and beneficial document to your community